Belgium was variously praised, criticized and ridiculed for its 1993 law (as amended in 1999) giving it universal jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The invocation of this law against Israeli and US defendants provoked an unprecedented conflict with Israel and serious tension with the United States of America in 2003. After months of diplomatic incidents, economic threats, provocative complaints and political debate, Belgium's controversial anti-atrocity law was repealed on 5 August 2003, ten years after entering into force. Even in the international legal community, real understanding of what happened in this legal laboratory is not common. This article is not a neutral study, but a contribution from an actor and a privileged witness.